The comprehensive influence of several major irreversibilities on the performance of an Ericsson heat engine

An irreversible cycle model of Ericsson heat engines including finite-rate heat transfer, regenerative losses and heat leak losses, is established and used to investigate the influence of these irreversibilities on the perfor mance of an Ericsson heat engine, using an ideal gas as the working substan ce. The power output is adopted as an objective function for optimization. The influence of major irreversibilities on the maximum power output and th e corresponding efficiency is analyzed in detail. The inherent relations an d the essential differences between the Ericsson heat engine and the Carnot heat engine are expounded. Moreover, it is pointed out that the results ob tained here are also suitable for the Stirling heat engine. (C) 1998 Publis hed by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.